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22 April 2012

Posted on Apr 23, 2012

Daughter of Haitian Immigrants Is GOP Congressional Nominee in Utah

April 22, 2012

National Review

After graduating from the University of Hartford with a degree in fine arts, Love moved to Utah in 1998 to stay with a friend for a few months and started dating Jason Love, a Mormon missionary she had known in Connecticut. She joined the church just before they were married. They now have three children ranging in age from four to twelve. She won a seat on her local city council in 2004 at the age of 29, and in 2010 she ran for mayor and won.

Public office brought her challenges. Saratoga Springs was a boom town in the early 2000s, but then ran into a brick wall as the housing bubble collapsed in 2008. The city faced a budget gap of more than $3 million. It dealt with it by cutting expenditures by $2 million and raising its property tax for the first time from 0.09 percent to 0.2 percent. She told me at CPAC she expects to be attacked for the tax hike, but says the experience marks her as someone who has had to lay people off and cut programs.

As I stood in front of the new Mormon Temple in Liberty, Mo., it struck me as ironic that close to 175 years ago, Mormons were forced out of this same state.

Whereas the Missouri public once urged their governor to force Joseph Smith and his followers out of the area surrounding Kansas City, Mormons began to return to the region in the 1900s, eventually gathering in such large numbers that the Church organization decided the region needed a temple.

Which is why I came to visit.

Latter Day Saints restrict temple access to members of their denomination who have proven themselves to be faithful and dedicated adherents. Because Mormons believe temples are the most sacred places on earth, one needs to be prepared to enter them by being an active member of the Church. (In contrast, chapels, where Mormons hold Sunday worship, are open to everyone. Temples are used only for certain rituals and are not open on Sunday so that Mormons can be at their chapel services.)

So are we really supposed to believe that bringing up the issue of polygamy was just a slip of the tongue he expected to go no further? The practice of Mormon men taking multiple wives, at one point in the history of the church, is one of the most intriguing and probably least understood aspects of Mormonism.

When people look at Romney and think about his religion, that’s probably what they are wondering about? Not necessarily how many wives he has; he has one, but how does a guy like Romney end up being a Mormon? Don’t they believe in some weird things? Do we want him in the White House? Can he be trusted?

Republicans wondering whether Mitt Romney’s political adversaries will use Mormonism against him got yet another answer to their question Thursday when MSNBC host Martin Bashir read from Mormon scriptures to condemn Romney to damnation for “lying” about Barack Obama’s jobs record.

Bashir was discussing Romney’s oft-stated accusation that the president promised the stimulus would keep unemployment below eight percent. In fact, top officials of the incoming Obama administration, not Obama himself, made that predication not long before Inauguration Day. Attributing the position to Obama, Bashir said, is a lie worthy of eternal damnation.

The fact that the Mormons, foreigners from the USA, have been given the right to practise their religion in Jamaica while Rasta has been accorded no such status is nothing short of scandalous. In 2005, I did some research on the Mormons, met with the then country president, Leroy Turner, and had a brief and somewhat edgy interview with him. In September of that year I wrote a column, ‘The embarrassing Truth about Mormonism’ and as a result the Jamaican church took out a full-page newspaper ad in an attempt to distance itself from what I had written.

More than 600 families in Murrieta are served weekly through area food banks.

To replenish and restock local food pantries, members of the Murrieta Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will join forces with St. Martha’s Catholic Church and Murrieta United Methodist Church for an upcoming day of service.

From 8:30 am to noon Saturday, April 28, the churches are conducting a city-wide food drive. The day is planned as part of the annual effort: “Mormon Helping Hands-Serving Our Communities,” said Kathryn Skaggs, a spokesperson for the Murrieta Stake, in a news release.

7. Dr. Parrino, in the thread, seems to criticize me (and Jim) for not appreciating the importance of Romney’s faithful Mormonism in assessing his character and personal identity. If I conveyed that impression, I certainly apologize. His Mormonism-and the high opinion Mormons have of him-is the best evidence that Mitt is a “real guy” with “core values” that will actually inform his leadership.

The 41-year-old actress takes on the title role as a single mother struggling to raise her son Emmett (Harrison Gilbertson) while longing to escape from her small Southern boardwalk town. Things get complicated when her married lover, Mormon Sheriff Richard Tipton (Ed Harris) decides to run for public office, and Emmett begins a romantic relationship with Tipton’s daughter (Emma Roberts). The film opens in theaters May 18.

A devout Mormon like his mother, Jabari worships at a church near the University of Chicago and the Parker home, a simple brick bungalow in a working-class section of the city’s largely African-American South Shore neighborhood.

It is not a flashy place, but it is, like Parker and his family, solid.

“I take for granted having two parents and a good inner circle,” he says. “And I know that a lot of people that are superstars in the sports world right now didn’t have a lot of the resources that I have.”

It’s the biggest role of the 36-year-old Enos’ career, which was previously split between small TV roles and Broadway plays, though she played twin “sister wives” on the Mormon polygamy series Big Love for three seasons. Raised a Mormon herself, she majored in theatre at Brigham Young University in Utah before heading to New York.

And then, in my admirable devotion to fairness, I think of the wonderful Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Romney, as you know, is a Mormon. Some folks don’t like that, but when I hear that choir sing, I am lifted. I soar. I don’t know if Mitt Romney can sing, but I feel better about him when I hear that music.

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